Poisoned Pawn
by thegoldfishkiller
Summary: - A piece of the board that would backfire on you one day. In this grand game of chess, the pawns are the lowest. So choose wisely, Judar. One wrong move could destroy you.
1. Chapter 1: Clasped

**The Poisoned Pawn**

Disclaimer: nope, it's impossible. Magi's just too awesome.

 **CHAPTER ONE:** _Alive and Dead Eyes Clasped in Fate_

-.-.-.-

Admit it. You've thought about jumping into the endless, dark, inviting abyss of depravity more than once.

Because honestly, you couldn't get any lower than you already were.

-.-.-.-

His hypnotic eyes, the first things she saw, turned right away into a mystery.

What she observed about him were all quite basic at first. Small, insignificant questions, even when the answers seemed as plain as day, like wondering if the sky was blue or if the ice was cold.

He was a puzzle with missing pieces she would never complete.

She flipped over worries, habits, expressions; tapping against the hollow gaps of forgotten memories. Still others hid, and some vanished in the thin air.

There was one part of this riddle of a boy, however, where she never allowed herself to connect the broken bits. The girl was too uncertain, too scared that she might be wrong. She kept weighing the options, second guessing herself, an infinite cycle of adding to the scales.

A haze of confusion she wandered forever in, that surrounded his two slanted crescent eyes.

Easily, someone else - anyone really - could say with certainty that they were red. It was so obvious, transparent in it's own stand as a question. But for Kougyoku, something as simple as that inexplicably confused her when it came to him.

Bright, maddening red, or dark, drowning crimson? She couldn't tell which shade of life, or if it had simply been a trick of the light, an everchanging illusion from her angle of the boy's darkened pale face. The sun shined behind him, forming a halo around his head of black hair as the Magi's shadow towered over the princess's own beaten, sniveling form.

Not physically beaten. No bruises marred her skin, no blood, nothing broken. Just a gloomy, weak little girl who would never make it anywhere.

But the boy's smile curled genuinely, and his outstretched hand was real, tangible. Not half-hearted encouragements from sullen servants who whispered while walking on wood and stone, nor pushes to her back from Ka Koubun that always made her stumble over silk and gold.

A boy she'd barely spoken to gave her a choice. A dilemma to accept that pale, outstretched hand and have no idea what came next, or refuse and instead accept her apparent fate. A decision given to her by someone so powerful, holding such high standing position as Oracle and Magi of Kou Empire, that he couldn't be called a mere boy anymore. Spiderwebs of ties and advantage, power and threats, held him up in his personal golden seat displayes in the large throne hall.

"You are strong Kougyoku!"

Those words that pushed past his smiling lips froze her. The smell of something sweet, and a sour darkness stung her nose, his long, full braid curling behind him.

The girl's tears blurred her vision, still unable to decide if his eyes were rubies or blood, gems or sins.

But the princess glowed with happiness and hope as she reached up hesitantly, a beam of sun glinting off the gold threads woven in her layered sleeves.

Surely he came as a rare blessing from life and destiny, a nod of acknowledgment from the revered god she heard chanted behind silken veils.

She took his hand.

And that perhaps was her fated choice.

-.-.-.-

Air passed through her creaking lungs like clock work. Her heart beat slowly for that one moment like the dull bell of dying time and a new end. She felt a smile push itself out to show disinterested the world, even as her own world revolved one last time on its bending, twisted axis, before inching towards it's first and final stop for rest after all these years.

The woman smiled, because she remembered a red gaze, a capricious grin, and she did not regret taking that pale, white hand that first time. The last of her storm exhaled, rolling out through chapped lips, as her spirit rose, lifting lightly in a gentle sigh of warmth.

Her light floated up and scattered, gliding away into the skies to join the great Flow of Life

-.-.-.-

The first time Judar met her formally... well, he himself could not remember. A young girl who held down her head and hid behind her long, traditional sleeves. An imperial princess who shook in nervousness, clearly mortified to be in front of the whole royal court, while Judar stood as the eight year old Oracle, and Magi of the expanding empire.

She hadn't been introduced, nor acknowledged in the proceedings. A lavishly dressed lump of air in a shadowed corner of a brightly lit hall drowning in riches.

All of this, he would not recall. The boy's bored red gaze glossed over her, moving on. Their first time meeting was lost in the abyss of Forgotten, a picture of a blurry scene that no one wanted. A thread of fate slipped past their fingers without them even noticing it was ever even there.

They stumbled into a second meeting years later, when Judar turned ten and the eighth princess nine. In the middle of a walkway, she moved aside out of his way, mumbling sorries and lisping regrets.

The boy looked blankly at her before poking her cheek in curiosity, wondering if it still remained there after being hidden all the time behind her sleeves. She squeaked at the contact and moved her arms up to hide her entire face in fear.

Fear of being touched? Fear of being seen? Fear of him? He never found out what it was she feared, or ever really even tried.

Judar was having the time of his life in the palace. Everyone so easy to annoy, everything so easy to destroy. He still had to be careful sometimes around the elder royals, including that wrench of a empress. The youngest eighth however, never retaliated. Nor did she ever speak.

The boy honestly thought she was mute for the longest of times.

The third time he saw her clearly, when he saw a different side of her, he sat perched high in a tree. Above the world, above everyone else who stumbled on the dirt grounds and choked in dust. She stormed into the close by empty training grounds during the night, hair down and tangled, a new expression never seen before on her face.

Judar watched in curiosity as she held her wooden sword in two quivering hands, wondering what she was there when her training classes were over already. He scoffed, thinking that she was going to collapse and cry as usual. It was a habit of hers, he noticed.

Instead, the girl swung with an angry cry at the target post. Tears flung into the air from bright, fiery eyes; her red hair flew around her in a mess. The post cracked and splintered under her steady-handed force, dust and dirt tumbling under her feet.

Stopping in mid-chew of peach, Judar rolled over on the branch to get a clearer view, his braid swinging with the movement as he watched interestedly at what she would do next.

But the young girl had apparently used up all her fury, and her eyes watered slightly while she whimpered at stinging red fingers. The seemingly delicate princess left the sword and hurried out of the area.

Judar rolled back to a more comfortable position, knowing the show curtains had closed, and continued eating, wondering at what he just saw.

The fourth time the Magi met her, she kneeled crying in a small courtyard. The servants whispered while they scurried past on the walkways, but no one spoke a word to the girl. A lavishly dressed shadow in a ignored, dusty corner of a sun lit garden full of flowers.

The princess' shoulders shook silently as her face, as always, remained covered. Judar laughed at her similarity to a turtle before tilting his head. He smirked as a new plan formed and twisted into his head, tossing back and forth in his mind.

Judar walked in front of the kneeling girl who just turned twelve, and held out his hand, bending down to meet her watery pink eyes. His form shadowed her being as he smiled amusedly at her stupid innocence.

"You are strong, Kougyoku!"

She looked up with hope and fear, staring at Judar's hand as if it were gold. Her dainty fingers peeked out from her long sleeves and she reached up, grasping his hand.

He pulled her up quickly before suddenly letting the girl's hand go. She stumbled to the side, while the boy pointed and laughed. The princess, somewhat princess, hit Judar in the shoulder once with an angry pout, before smiling along with him, starting their story in her mind, as the boy schemed in his own.

Everything was going so well. His Kou empire, growing and destroying everything in its path. Princes and princesses capturing dungeon left and right with his persuasions.

Another tool, perhaps another king vessel in the bin. After all, Kougyoku was so easy to manipulate and trick, even then harboring more potential than five of her other step sisters, three already married and useless. Her naive and gullible personality would be the strings, and she his minor puppet.

Besides, she was interesting enough.

-.-.-.-

"Hey, Judar?"

"What is it?"

"Do you have anything you miss?" Kougyoku asked sadly, cradling the wilted flower she had wanted to plant, but didn't make it soon enough. She was only eleven, she didn't know much. But loss in a palace was not an unnatural occurance.

The boy snorted, glaring crimson eyes at her. "Oi, that's such a stupid question. Here let me think..." He made a show of tapping his chin and scratching his messy black hair before leaning in with cold, serious look in his red, red eyes and a playful smile twisting his lips.

"Nope."

The sudden tension in the air vanished with him as the Magi walked away while looking thoughtful, wondering idly what he should do next. The princess stood rooted to that spot, staring at nothingness.

'Will you ever miss me then, if I were to go?'

A pile of earth, a windy cliff, a torn red ribbon, a shattered mirror.

'If I were to go?'

One song from the rivers and seas. And one color. The crimson color in the essence life and forsight of death.

The girl shook her head, pushing away the thoughts. 'Nah, bad question to ask. Besides, we're only children right now. He'll probably think differently when he grows up.'

Of course, that never happened. At least, as far as this story goes.

-.-.-.-

Oh yes. It was obvious. Of course, his eyes were red, like the skies were blue and ice was cold.

However... somedays the sky is bleached white. Some instances stained in crimson splatters. The snow, cold, could burn like fire.

And if so, how can you say whether or not his eyes are alive or dead?

-.-.-.-

 _Author's Note -_

 _Inspired by the concept of "shattered memories". Main story goes in order with the original story line, but jumps around ages sometimes, so keep an eye on that. It would be less confusing._

 _Judar and Kougyoku has a very complicated but simple relationship in my mind. Complicated because of the contradictions, and simple because of the rather straightforward base it had. Judar was actually said to be made after Kougyoku as a companion, although their relationship doesn't show in the manga as often as backstage._

 _I was vague about how and when Kougyoku "died" because she hadn't yet in the original story. I'm not doing anything certain until the manga actually showed it._

 _The part when Judar briefly wonders what he was like before when he was a child was inspired by at the end of Hakuryuu and Gyokuen's fight when he tripped and kicked the dying empress, saying,"One year, two years, twenty years. If it weren't for you I would have... I would have been more..." before he looked confused and said, "What was it again? Slipped my mind."_

 _Hope you will enjoy this story. There won't be many chapters I'm guessing, but I'll try to move the plot with the original's. I'll be adding more to the chapters even after I post them if I get the inspiration._

 _Thank you for reading to this._


	2. Chapter 2: Reflection

**CHAPTER TWO:** _My Friends are in My Reflection_

 _Warning: chapters will be switching parts like a one man show. I repeat, chapters are prone to switching/adding/deleting parts._

-.-.-.-

The stories of treasures and unkowns, magic and herorics entranced her when she first heard the small whisper of men who lost their lives to the gaping arches and light filled gates.

The young, ignorant girl looked up at the swaying tree through a curtain tangled red hair.

Alone. Forgotten.

She wondered if she will one day find what millions of others did not.

-.-.-.-

Crystallized eyes of fire, red hair whipping in the wind, flushed, angry cheeks, and excited, crazed smiles.

That was how Kougyoku should always seem. Not a shaking prey under a shelter of naive feeling of safety, but a worthy predator who hunts.

It only happens at night, where she practices with her sword alone. The little princess never seemed to be able to bring that energy when fighting with the swords master or during training with the other palace children.

He knew she always had it. Ever since that first night of anger, she became addicted to the sword, a new obsession with power and purpose, the exhilaration with existing. And he watched.

Watched her fall and get up. Repair herself and destroy monsters of hay and wood with a wooden sword. Watched her until it became a habit to watch, until one day he didn't even notice he was.

Counting the girl's every step as she cut down dummy after dummy, Judar decided that he wanted to see her defeat someone real. And that thought came true, when the sword master's carelessness around her reached to a point where Kougyoku finally snapped.

She looked like a dancer, it seemed. Rather unrefined, lacking grace, but full of force and will. Agility, power, intuition. She had it all. A bit still unskilled, a bit unexperienced, it didn't matter as she held her sword tip to the swordmaster's throat. Through a bit a luck, a bit of fate, and a part of the master's own disregard to the young girl, she won.

It was like watching a rabbit devour a fox, or a moon swallow the sun.

Judar knew then, that he would make her into a chess piece for his own use. And he soon did, not long after that first victory for Kougyoku, when he reached out his hand to the girl with layers of masks and silk, a mystery to everyone but him.

-.-.-.-

Being sixteen meant change. This was the age where girl will soon (very soon) become woman, and the warning of no more childish tolerance or favor any longer was sent when she took off her jade bracelet sha had worn ever since she was young.

Kougyoku was gaining respect as a decent swordsman, but still had a long way to go in order to gain a voice.

Judar saw his chance immediately. In fact, he didn't even need to go after it.

"I want to conquer a dungeon," Kougyoku said.

Faking surprise, Judar asked, "Why's that?"

"No one will look down on me any longer after I conquer a dungeon and become a king vessel. I could help this country as well. With a djinn spirit, my strength will grow," the princess exclaimed with a determined huff.

"Even after morw than thousands of men have died for one?"

"Yes."

Grinning with all white teeth and crimson eyes, Judar pinched one of her cheeks. "I knew you were strong."

She glared and attempted to stab his offending hand with her hair pin while he quickly withdrew, used to the princess's violent reactions ever since she turned into a teen. She hated being patronized, especially since Judar did it all the time. Still, she smiled at the compliment.

She was strong.

And he knew just the dungeon for her.

A sharp spire twisting high into the sky, piercing the atmosphere, towering over a churning sea. Desolate and dark, the waves battering against its pillars and base, leaving tears to drip down until the next wave.

Kougyoku watched from the air, accompanied with ten soldiers, Ka Koubun, and Judar. She remained composed, but a crushing weight landed heavily on her chest as she watched the tower. It was too close to herself, too similar.

She didn't hear words, expressions or voices. She only heard the ocean sending itself crashing over and over against the cracked, marble building, caught in a hopeless battle with the seas.

The last thing she heard before entering the portal of light was Judar, saying, "Looks like you, huh?"

-.-.-.-

Reflection, tell me who I am.

Mirror, tell me what I am.

Sheets of gold and silver, tell me where I am.

Please, anyone, tell me why am I here.

-.-.-.-

When she became fourteen, a girl still, Kougyoku had one wish in mind. She fidgeted nervously with her kimono, wiping her sweating hands in anticipation.

'This is it.'

Kougyoku saw a few young, newcomer maids standing by at the side of the cobblestone road beside the courtyard flowers, laughing and speaking freely to one another. The air smelled sweet, the sky clear and blue. What a wonderful day, the princess smiled. She walked closer to the women and asked in curiosity, composing her face to hide her racing heart.

"What are you guys talking about?"

The women looked up and stuttered, bowing their heads with folded hands, "Princess!"

Walking closer, the young princess did not notice the shaking of the maids. "What were you talking about?" Kougyoku asked again, still trying to not seem as nervous as she really was, hiding her own shaking hands in her long, silken sleeves.

"I-it is of no importance and unworthy of your ears! Pl-please excuse us," One maid said frantically before bowing and scurrying away, the other two following. Soon, they would regal the other new maids of facing the cold eighth princess Kougyoku.

But the princess herself stood there for a very long time. She had become used to it. In fact, she had tried many times before to laugh with friends, speak with others, share secrets and make promises, that disappointment came inevitably after reality slammed in like a tidal wave.

She had stopped crying in front of others. But the mask she nurtured still scared people away.

The sky was a clear, fresh blue that day. Infinite in every direction with no clear boundary, wrapping around everything.

There was a second chance that day.

Clearing her throat, she said casually to the boy sitting on the balcony above, "It's nice to have friends, ne?"

'Act natural, act natural...'

Judar stopped chewing his peach long enough to ask in disbelief, "You have friends?"

A bit anxious now, she said with a small timid smile, "Well, aren't we friends?"

'We are, aren't we? You saved me when I was down and beaten, and you pulled me up. You made me stronger and able to speak for myself. I'm happy around you and that's what friends are, right?' Kougyoku thought fervently, praying with clasped hands in a death grip.

Snorting in derision while tossing the peach pit away, uncaring of where it landed, he waved a lazy hand in the air as if warding off her stupidity. "I'm not friends with someone like you."

'You helped me in so many ways, and you laugh, and smile so freely, and...'

'Ah. Not-friends'. "Okay," she said with a smile. "I'll see you later then."

She walked away as dignified as she could, embarrassed tears forming in her eyes while she surprised herself with the burning hurt drilling itself out from inside her angular heart.

After all, what would a nocturne know about light, when they never seen the sun?

During her training with Ka Koubun, a butterfly flew at the corner of her eye. When the girl turned to follow, thinking perhaps it could take her away, it vanished amongst the vibrant, colorful flowers in the distance, blending in with everything else.

"Hey, Ka Koubun."

"Yes Princess?"

"Are you my friend?" Kougyoku clasped her arms over her folded legs, curling in on herself. Rocking back and forth on a sinking boat with cracked boards and filled with holes.

"You've trying to associate with the servants in the palace again, haven't you? I told you, they are unworthy of your status and upbringing. As a Princ -"

Kougyoku tuned him out, and looked up at the sky. It was clear and blue, a silken azure cap for the world. An ocean above in the air, where storms could rage and also calm. A divider of earth and universe.

"Nevermind Koubun."

-.-.-.-

Just because she wanted to do something didn't mean it would succeed.

Just because she wanted something didn't mean she would get it.

Because the world couldn't be that way. The sun would gulp down gullets of moons, even if one managed to swallow the sun.

-.-.-.-

The light danced everywhere, encircling her body, wounding tighter and tighter. Her life slipped gently from her hands, trying to escape into the brightness before she dropped into empty space atop a glowing circle in a pillar of shimmering air.

Earth. A blue and green beauty, looking so far away, but familiar.

She had past beyond the boundary of sky. Beyond the Earth and into the Universe. A grin spread across her face as her eagerness jumped inside her heart before everything descended back into light. In a splash, she suddenly landed on her hands and feet in shallow water, blinded again, this time by the darkness.

A dark, cold expanse with a high ceiling that dripped water from deep set cracks surrounded her, each drop of water echoing in the isolated room as they landed, creating small ripples in the ankle deep liquid filling the whole floor.

Every slight sound reverberated in the walls. There were no doors, no tunnels and no way out as far as the girl could see. There were only three sculptures of large hands each from equal distance at the edge of the circular room, each with a flat arch covering it from the water drops. Glowing moss from another world covered the walls.

The princess was completely alone.

Sloshing the water around as she walked, the girl looked around. The water from the ceiling started dripping faster, but she didn't notice. Kougyoku had finally seen the scattered bones. Skeletons. So many of them, as if they had all walked into this room and then died without struggle.

That's when she felt the burning.

No one could save her. Kougyoku was alone, alone. Her eagerness evaporated with this revelation, solitude being an old parasite of hers. If only Judar was here. He could use his magic, and perhaps freeze the water so it wouldn't get in and burn like ice.

-.-.-.-

"Friends, huh?" He thought mildly after the princess left. Judar shrugged it off, and reached for another peach. She took things way too seriously. It was her fourteenth birthday, she should lighten up a bit. Perhaps she was also going through the "I want friends stage" he endured for a short time long ago when he was... what was he like before again?

It made him laugh while watching her squirm and become embarrassed at her miscalculations. The princess was sometimes more amusing than the other vessels he had chosen, easy to make fun of and easy to trick. One tug, one nudge, and the house of cards crumbles down.

However, a few days later, he didn't think it funny anymore, "Stop following me everywhere and hanging flowers in my room every single day and sending those dumb cards... What are you doing, trying to kill me?"

Kougyoku blinked before starting boldly, "I know you probably don't see me as a friend and you probably have better and stronger people beside you." She looked anxious and lowered her eyes. "But even so... I still consider you my friend."

She clenched her eyes in fear, not sure what Judar would do. When as the silence continued on, she opened one timid eye.

Only to see his back, slowly moving farther away...

"Eeeh? Hey, I just made a heartfelt speech here. At least reply!" Kougyoku ran to catch up with Judar as he walked, stumbling on her long pink and yellow kimono skirt. He sighed exasperatedly and flicked her forehead.

"Just stop. It's creepy and annoying," he said before continuing on his way, now bored with her.

However, Kougyoku didn't seem perturbed while ambling by his side, smiling a wide happy grin. Judar grimaced at the stupid smile, now completely irritated with her happy aura. Even after he called her creepy and annoying as well. What a weirdo.

Isn't someone who lost their footing supposed to fall instead of rise?

-.-.-.-

 _Author's note -_

 _I made up everything that happened in Kougyoku's dungeon. I took it a more psychological turn, because isolation and sorrow seems more mental that physical to me. I tried to seem vague on the other trials for the sake of imagination (and it would take too much space)._

 _Thank you for reading to this point._


	3. Chapter 3: Dungeon

**CHAPTER THREE:** _Dungeon Full of Peaches_

-.-.-.-

"What are you doing?"

A twisted gnarled branches creaked with the heavy snow resting themselves upon its ice hardened boughs, powder of frost dusting the crevices.

The boy kicked its trunk petulantly, willing it to start growing peaches that instant, because damn it, he had the best magical braid ever seen in the world. He was an eleven year old who could make ice appear and float above the ground.

He had and did everything the Al Thaman told him to be the best Magi in the world, to surpass everyone else and rise above them. So a stupid tree like that one had better start giving him its peaches.

It didn't.

Growling, he ignored the girl as she asked the same stupid question again. The third time, he turned told her to get lost before he kills her. While he would find her emerging boldness (and complete stupidity) entertaining at times, he wasn't in the mood at that moment.

She blinked lavender eyes that brightened in the frosted air. "You won't kill me."

"And why's that?" He grumbled, still attacking the tree. Why the hell did Falan hide all the peaches in storage for winter just to make him eat his vegatables?

"Because I have peaches."

He froze.

"But I'm making a deal with you," she continued, wrapping her fur covering over her shoulders tighter.

"Just gimme the food."

"Fine. I won't," she puffed out her frost reddend cheeks and turned to leave.

She counted four snow crunching steps with her leather winter boots.

"Wait."

She smiled and turned.

Mounds of snow, black pebbles, woolen cloaks and one cold peach filled their empty winter day.

-.-.-.-

Judar was almost worried as Kougyoku became stiff and cold as they approached the dungeon she was to defeat.

Key word being "almost", because he didn't do worrying.

He said to her, "Hey, Gyoku."

Then, "Hey, you okay hag?"

Finally, he simply looked into her face, annoyed at her lack of response. Her expression was detached and blank, but those pink eyes were swirling with fire and life, as if she was in another demension already.

Judar didn't say more directly to her, knowing that his words will be swept away along with the winds above the sea, grazing next to her ears and tangling in her red hair, never to be heard.

That's when the Magi knew he didn't need to think any longer, because she was a king vessel he had picked.

He's very good at what he does, he knows. Yes, he chose his king vessels very carefully.

-.-.-.-

A man who tried to connect the world.

A genius who just wanted peace.

A young, girly boy who wanted to be respected.

A compassionate heart who became a general before she married.

An invisible, disoriented mess who strove to be strong.

And...

Soon, very soon, Judar will crown a boy who had lost everything.

Just like the Oracle of Kou himself.

-.-.-.-

Pushing out the last of the rocks through the crack with a gasp, Kougyoku stepped into a new room. Wiping her hands with a shiver, a choke in the back of her throat, she decided to go ahead and forget everything that happened in there.

She would tell no one.

The dungeon was sapping her strength with its attacks that touch her spirit's sensitivity, the darkest corners where she had tried to shove all her fears, but they creep back, drawn like moths to a flame when she became weak. Fighting, Kougyoku could deal with. In fact, she rather enjoyed the rush of power, excitement, and purpose that came with a sword.

The princess wouldn't much longer. Twice, she had been saved by sheer luck and fate, and god knew how unreliable that was. But it seemed she could make it. The door with the eight pointed star stood before her then, a square pool standing in the way.

Kougyoku looked into the pool, and could only see darkness. Squinting her eyes at a small flash in the depths, she tilted her head and leaned closer, teetering on the marble edge.

The blue water suddenly rose in tendrils and grabbed her by the shoulders and hands before pulling her swiftly in. At the last surprised second, she took a quick breath, a startled flutter of air.

Darkness. That was the ultimate isolation. Heavy forces pushing from all sides, but no one, nothing at all in sight. She looked behind her, and panicked when there was no surface, no exit fr where she should have come from. Only darkness.

Bubbles and gurgles escaped her mouth as she sobbed into the pitch black water, her heart squeezing and beating in fear. Suddenly, at the corner of the princess's eye, she saw a flash of light.

A perfect, pure pearl sat in the bottom. Glowing with innocent pale gold, iridescent to the eye. Waves of lights echoed around it, fading like ripples of a raindrop.

Kougyoku started swimming towards it quickly, deeper into the dark waters. Her air supply running out, she went faster before reaching in and grasping the pearl. It was smooth, so perfect and beautiful. Looking up, the girl could finally see the surface, a small square of blue in the distance.

But she couldn't make it, she knew she couldn't as her body started moving on its own in desperation. In the soft glow of the pearl in her hand, she saw the remains of others who had made it that far but couldn't make it all the way. And Kougyoku knew she was about to be one of them.

A hand grasped her wrist.

She was pulled up a dark shadow, and started feeling panic and elation as the square of blue became larger and larger. At the last moment, when she had almost given up for no reason except fear that the blueness was just an illusion, air surrounded her, and she could breath again.

Coughing, her shoulders convulsing while bile clawed the back of her throat, she saw what made her happier than she had ever been in her whole life thus far. "Judar-chan! Ka Koubun!"

Panting a little, Judar pulled one of her sagging hair loops feebly, "Old hag. Would have died if I didn't come when I did." Flopping onto his back, he continued, "Now I'm tired. Remind me to never try to save your ass again and just have Glasses do it."

She watched Judar. She realized he did not have the power to save, but only the power to destruct. He could freeze the water, but it would kill her. He could try to raise the water in the air to use gravity magic and pull her out. But the force of using it on someone other than himself would crush Kougyoku with its force.

So she didn't mention it.

"I'm glad your safe, Princess. I didn't see any of the soldiers in the dungeon," Koubun rolled his eyes at Judar's nickname for him and helped the still wheezing girl up.

Kougyoku didn't reply, and instead stared at the pearl in her hand as she slowed her breathing. It fit her palm perfectly, and as she admired its simple beauty, a gnawing started in her chest, like something digging in her heart for space.

It was the most beautiful thing in the world. She would die for it. Kill for it.

"Uh, old hag."

Kougyoku tore her eyes away from the pearl and looked sightlessly at Judar. He raised an eye brow. "You have to open the door with that pearl."

The princess made a move closer to the door, but then halted to a stop when she realized that after the door opened, there was no way of getting the pearl back. It was special. She couldn't let it out of her sight. Kougyoku's hand clutched the pearl and she refused to move. "No, I can't."

Judar gripped her left shoulder slowly, carefully, and touched the pearl once, shattering the enchantment. The princess blinked. It was just an ordinary pearl then. Pretty, but nothing special.

"Idiot, that's how some people died when they decided that they would rather throw their lives away than lose the pearl, and went back into the pool. It's a test of loss." Without another word, Judar took the pearl and inserted it into the dent. Immediately, the door shined gold through the cracks and etchings of rolling oceans and brilliant suns.

The door opened, blinding the princess with light once more.

-.-.-.-

"Why do you like peaches so much?" Kougyoku asked one day. "I mean, that's literally all I have ever seen you eat."

"It is the food of gods," Judar said with a grim, solemn look

"I don't get it though... how do you even survive?"

"Don't be a drama queen," Judar rolled his eyes, clearly overlooking the fact he exaggerated his own words not two seconds ago. "The royal family all eat meals alone, and same goes for me, the Magi. But it's boring as hell." The boy stretched out in a yawn before standing up.

"C'mon."

"What? Where?" Kougyoku asked, startled at his sudden change in mood. Judar was always unpredictable and strange, even more so as he grew older, then sixteen. But she smiled at that thought, since even if he gave up on her, she wouldn't give up on him.

"Getting more stuff to eat from the kitchens. They always let me have my way. You coming?"

Kougyoku stood as well, brushing off her clothes before smiling. Sometimes, he acted nicer than usual. On good days, it seemed natural. "Fruits are good. No vegetables though."

"My thoughts exactly."

-.-.-.-

"I am Vinea, controller of seas and dictator of sorrow. Humans, which of you desires to be king?"

Judar watched silently in midair as Kougyoku stepped forward. She looked worn out, tired. But he could see flames again in the sunken eyes, and he smirked at another victory close at hand.

"I want to," Kougyoku said, head tilted back to see the djinn's face. A large scaly dragon with three blue tails, empty, dead eyes the color of silver moons, marks like tear tracks running down her long face. That was the expression of mourning, a chilling aura that never fades away. A room filled with treasure, but no warm glow, just a cold, damp feeling with the triumph.

"Human girl, why do you wish to be king?"

"I... " Kougyoku stopped before taking a deep breath, "I want to become stronger for my family - and for myself as well!"

The djinn leaned closer, necklaces of simple sea shells clinked together, things that somehow felt comforting to look at, and a sun like crown adornined the serpent like head. Vinea tilted her head, examining Kougyoku with a cold stare before they warmed slightly with understanding.

"I accept you as my king, " she said. Reaching to the princess, she tapped once at the girl's gold hairpin stuck in red hair before whirling through the eight pointed star imprinted on the gold in a hurricane of winds and water. The same sign disappeared from the metal water jug that was the old metal vessel.

Kougyoku, stunned - was that victory? had she finally succeeded in something - started as Koubun grabbed her wrist, shouting over the rumbling of the collapsing dungeon, Judar waved them over to the glowing magic circle Vinea made appear, and once again, the girl, almost woman, broke through the ocean of a sky between the universe and earth.

Kougyoku had to grin again, and it felt as if she was flying, weightless and free. Finally, she had won something and gained a name.

Kougyoku, the eighth princess. Not forgotten, not lowborn. Ren Kougyoku, dungeon capturer and king candidate of the Kou empire.

-.-.-.-

 _Author's note -_

 _In the Magi fanbook, Judar's favorite food was peaches, and Kougyoku's was fruit in general. Both disliked vegatables. Also an extra mini manga from the backstage that basically shows Judar being bored as hell of eating alone and decided to attack (?) everyone with peaches._

 _I kid not. Go to youthinkyouknowthings on tumblr. The tag of Magi is full of backstage translations._

 _Thank you for reading! Please help critic and maybe correct if I missed anything._


	4. Chapter 4: Another

_Each time I make a major change to a chapter, I will post a new one to replace so anyone following this story would know that "oh come one. What did she change this time?"_

 _Enjoy. Also, this is record time updating. Probably because I wrote this a while ago, and can't think of a way to better it unless I delete 400 words, which I am not doing. Nuh uh._

 _Slow update next time, I promise *sarcastic thumbs up*._

 **CHAPTER FOUR:** _The Art of Falling For Another in a Arranged Marriage_

(it did not end as well as those in romance books)

-.-.-.-

The balance scales of justice in life and death had always been slightly skewed.

Sometimes the evil end up controlling their victims with no consequence. Sometimes ambitious dreamers fell until their bones and hopes shatter, leaving the world wondering why. Why was it that endings are so unpredictable? Why was it that sometimes people gain nothing from their hard work, and others were given it as freely as scraps of worthless valuables?

Why was it that the world isn't black and white, so you'll know when to stay away from lost causes, away from liars, tricksters, and back stabbing trust?

The thing was, truthfully, no one really had a single speck of idea why.

It's all revenge revenge, hate, cries of injustice, howls of toppling thrones and anguish over lost loves who shouldn't have gone but still did.

Who cared about hipocracy and their mistakes when they had their own exsistance to keep them company?

-.-.-.-

At age seven, it was a particularly difficult age for Kougyoku.

Mainly since it was when her mother passed away, partially because the aftermath flew into a debate whether to keep the young girl in the palace or send her away quietly. No fuss, no muss, and no more blood of a whore's flesh and bone.

Her father died not too long ago. Her mother, a lowly courtesan who, while the favorite of the Kou emporer, soon became the only thing that keptthe eighth princess in the palace.

There was no funeral. The princess stood by when they cremated her mother's body and her belongings, the smell of ashy burnt flesh, old paper, and thick smoke. She coughed, and sneezed and sniffled, wrapped stark white mourning robes made of cheap plant fiber, later to be burned also by tradition. The sky was the yellowish grey color of old bleached bones and aged, peeling skin, the paper coins fluttering down like feathers.

Cloudy, misty, and dead. So cold, the sun hiding behind it's sleeves of grey, never peeking through the folds.

She was the only one there, other than some servants and a boy with a long, full black braid that brushed the blackened ground. He seemed fascinated by death, and watched with curious eyes. A few veiled men stood beside him until the boy yawned, proclaiming that he was tired before leaving, and Kougyoku was alone with the remains and ashes.

She remembered him ever since then. A boy who was there when her mother left forever. A boy with bright, brilliant, curious eyes of red precious gems whom she only met a few times in her life, and only when she was still a young girl.

Were they so pure because of her own rose tinted view in innocence of the world at that time? Or was it because of his own?

It didn't matter.

She never forgot, while he never remembered.

-.-.-.-

"By the Holy Royal Highness, princess Kougyoku of this Kou empire will enter arranged a marriage for you with the king of Balbbad!" The herald bellowed for the whole court to hear, an embroidered scroll spread between his hands. Kougyoku kept her respectfully head down, hiding her face in habit.

Her head swam dizzyingly, and she felt as if she couldn't breath. She was scared to look up, terrified that the weights and fears settled on her head will fall if she shifted her head even a little, crashing down at her feet with shattered dreams.

She did have dreams then. She had dared to wish, to hope after she captured a dungeon. Perhaps she shouldn't have. Disappointment, as she had said before, was inevitable when reality woke her up, like a slash of coldness or a sharp pinch.

"You will set out to meet him next week. The engagement is a truce between the two countries."

She bowed and choked out, "Yes, your Highness." She knelt and touched her head to the ground, hands clenching the red silk floor covering under piles of extravagant cloth that meant nothing. "Long live the Emperor."

"One million years we wish the Emperor!" The whole court bowed, breathing in the dust of decades and centuries of shedded beliefs.

Not father. Never father.

Kouen stood next to her on the balcony as she watched the sun die in a blaze of red, bathing the palace grounds in its remains.

"It is an honor," Her brother said. Someone who helped her become stronger, and aknowledged her meager strength. "Peace is very important for an empire of this size."

"Yes," she replied.

Putting a hand on her head once, Kouen smiled kindly, "I know you are strong."

Kougyoku smiled back, still smiling as he walked away. She was strong. If only she was stronger than being married off, though.

"What are you gonna do now, old hag?"

The princess didn't need to look. "I..."

Judar swung himself from the roof top and floated onto the ground. He always liked to be in higher places. To be above the ground, the earth and everyone else.

The girl paused. "I will marry the king of Balbbad."

"Don't you wanna change that though? I know you don't want to marry. Heck, everyone knows. Don't you hate your fate?"

Born as a whore's daughter, placed into a large empire as the eighth and forgotten princess. Neglected, cast away. Even after becoming a king vessel, conquerer of a dungeon, her destiny to be used as a simple pawn of a grand chessboard chased her down to that point, used as a trade marriage for some other country. Sure, Hakuein married. But she was a general. And Kougyoku was not.

Judar grinned excitedly at what might happen. He wanted the stupid, naive princess to fall, down to his own level. They could destroy world, and she would be even easier to manipulate than ever. Just a few words of her despised life could set her off. Her eyes will forever burn and teeth flash from feral grins, a beautiful destruction.

But her pure, white rukh didn't even waver a shade darker. Kougyoku carved a bitter, wistful smile on her own mouth, but her soul remained untainted. "I guess I should have seen this coming. After all, I am the eighth princess and a lowborn."

Boring.

However, he supposed that's what made her interesting as well. The black haired boy was used to her presence, so much so that hanging around her became a habit.

Besides, she was still one small pawn that had yet to be touched by the empress Gokyuen, so just with that she was still a usable tool.

-.-.-.-

"Judar-chaaaan," Kougyoku shook his arm gently. "Hey, Judar-chan?"

"Wha...?" The boy mumbled through his pillows, his loose black hair splayed out in disarray while he slept in those same clothes that shows off way too much belly to be Kou custom. Such a lazy Oracle, not even trying to change clothes when he slept.

"It's my fifteenth birthday, c'mooooon!" The princess flung the blankets to the ground and proceeded to continue tugging at the boy's arm.

"Go away..." Judar batted weakly against her hands as she huffed in annoyance. Looking around in his room, she admitted it was pretty early to wake someone up, especially of Judar's calibre in sleeping regards. Still, Ka Koubun wouldn't let her go to the Magi's room if she asked, saying that it was improper, inappropriate, ect.

But what could she do then, if Judar wouldn't wake up?

Humming to herself, she played with the tips of the boy's silky black hair. He never once cut it in his life, claiming it was one of his pride and joys. She started braiding it absent-mindedly before getting an idea.

"Hey, Judar-chan?"

"Hah...?"

"Can my birthday present be braiding your hair?"

"I can't hear, just shut the hell up," Judar mumbled absently as he tossed in his bed as he resumed being dead to the world.

Grinning gleefully, Kougyoku parted the black hair, hming in delight, wondering what she should do... this was a chance she may never happen upon again, and Judar might change his mind. Doing his hair was like touching a star, a near impossible dream. This may be the last time, ever...

Judar woke up hours later, when Kougyoku was long gone, groggily rubbing his eyes and yawning. He thought that he had a vague dream where someone was messing with his hair, but he couldn't really recall. Getting up, he felt something strange on his head. Touching his head, he froze at the irregular forms. The boy then noticed a note next to him on the pillow.

"Hi Judar-chan! You didn't wake up to wish me a happy birthday (I'm fifteen!), but thanks for letting me do your hair."

Next the the sentence was a crude, near unrecognizable drawing of his current state, but he could tell just by the pain in his scalp. Two, intricate, agonizing braided buns on either side of his pinned with dozens of pins and bows. Below the drawing was a small, terrible word.

"Kawaiiiii."

Judar screamed when he made it to the mirror. No magic can make this right. No. Only painful hours of undoing this horrible, horrendous hairdo with careful hands lest his hair get tangled and he'll be forced to cut it.

NO.

Kougyoku will pay, oh, she will. After sabotaging her beauty expeditions and tricking her into bathing with pigs, he will be only halfway satisfied with his revenge.

After all, if the minor chess piece played the player, then the world must be going backwards.

-.-.-.-

"You're wrong! Ugo was fighting to protect me - protect everyone! Judar was the one who attacked first!" The young boy yelled, pointing his staff at Kougyoku in anger, ready to take aim at her once more.

The princess felt her blood boil as she tried to calm herself down, to keep composure because damn it, she was a seventeen year old, mature princess. And she was not about to panic in front of a bunch of strangers. Her fingers twitched in strain as she managed a cold glare at the people below her.

'Deep breaths Kougyoku.'

"... I see... so... you're the master of that monster then?" She wavered a bit on the first few words before managing to clam down her emotions. Her eyes landed on Judar again, his form in her shadow of the moonlight, and she felt fear again as she knew that he was close to death.

"So those people down there too... Are comrades of that monster," she continued calmly.

Forget it. They're dead.

"What do you plan to do now, princess?" Ka Koubun asked respectfully behind her.

"We have no choice but to put things in order." Kougyoku raised her hand sharply. "Enshin, Entai, Engi," she called to the veiled men that always came when it was about Judar. "Get rid of them!"

'What ever you do to my friend, I'll pay you back tenfold,' she thought darkly. 'Judar couldn't die, he couldn't. Without him, what would happen to me? I don't want him to die. Don't die, don't die, don't die...' she repeated feverishly in her mind, while she schooled her face into the familiar ice mask.

Perhaps she had gotten used to it.

-.-.-.-

Kougyoku, eighth princess of Kou, fell in love at first sight.

Perhaps him grabbing her wrist, touching her bare skin while not a relative, made her feel as if he had some responsibility, although that is an old rule. Perhaps it had been his eyes, gold and rich in the slanted moonlight.

Yes his eyes.

She tried to push him away in her mind because crap, he might die, Judar might die. But Sinbad, King of Sindria, invaded her mind once again after the Oracle's danger was gone, breaths even and safe. With a sweep of soldiers and footmen, he conquered her weak defensed heart.

'So this is love' she realized. 'The magical thing I've read in books. The souring feeling, the loss of my mind and body to dedicating another being.'

Kougyoku wouldn't know literal she had been to think that until much, much later.

-.-.-.-

"Come with me, Kougyoku. I'll make you a general in Kou. You wanted to fight as a soldier of your country, right?" That pale outstretched hand. Those red, red eyes, flickering like smoldering coal. A genuine smile, not unlike the one he gave her all those years ago when he first presented her a choice.

Just because it was genuine doesn't mean friendliness. After all, he did warn her before:

'We aren't friends.'

-.-.-.-

Judar.

Hey, Judar. Wake up.

Kougyoku steadily looked away from Ka Koubun healing the still, too still Judar.

Her back was straight, her eyes were narrowed and dry, her lips thinned into a tight, tense line full of inexpressed worry and panic. Not knowing how to respond, because Judar was always so strong, and she could of nothing, nothing at all to think of, for, about.

She counted to ten.

One. Ten.

The sky remained an inky void of dying light, and no movements came from the black haired Magi. Kougyoku, did not shift, nor scarcely daring to breath. Not knowing that the magi had many, many times before when he was paralyzed in sleep.

She relaxed only when Ka Koubun relayed that Judar was going to be fine, alive, pieced together. The air rushed out of her body in one heave of relief.

She left him in the care of her assistant, worried that he would be angry that she saved him.

After all, Kougyoku knew enough about Judar's man pride. Not knowing that in the laws of this universe, pawns aren't supposed to be anymore to the player than the weakest unit on his side of the war.

-.-.-.-

 _Authors note -_

 _Finally, an actual part from the original manga from Kougyoku's view._

 _I think that having a depraved king vessel is important to Judar since he probably saw that potential from Hakuryuu after his own mother killed his brothers, hence Judar always trying to get him to conquer a dungeon._

 _He then left the other half of the Kou empire to join Hakuryuu after the prince finally fell, basically throwing away all his other king vessels because Judar probably needed someone who understood. And so that's the reason I made him try to goad Kougyoku into hating her fate._

 _I'm not sure if she will fall into depravity in my fanfiction (cause I like twisting some events in their past and present canon events to suit my story). She might, but most likely not... for instance, in the manga they didn't show where and when exactly did Judar first hold out his hand to Kougyoku, so made the timeline and setting up. In the anime, apparantly it was in a room, Kouhen was there too, but I follow the manga, so... I don't really base on the anime._

 _Thank you for reading up to here *flashes double 'cool!' hands signs*._

 _Spoiler: chapter 181 Chinese translations just came out. There's a lot of good things, and so, so many bad things (in my point of view, any who)._

 _Kougyoku. My fav girl in Magi. I feel with you. I'm so pumped to write her shift. Things just even more interesting for me and my story. Also, I'm really surprised at how well my story is going with the character themes. Kougyoku's in this story was "mask", and I was kinda like, ehh, maybe, because she sometimes recently seemed more like "open book". But now, it's definitely masks. Like just now when I read 181, she put on a smiling facade, and when she turned around, she started digging blood from her own hand and glaring with fire spitting eyes. When I was first writing her, I was afraid that the part about firey eyes when she fights would be a dead idea after seeing her hesitant in the war as a general, but now? Damn! The original story is working like puzzle peices with my story!_

 _Happy/crying face. That author's note was way too long._


End file.
